They don’t look like much to the unknowing eye, but the 12 cottages at UO’s Columbia Terrace Houses have a history that experts say dates back to WWII. That history marks big changes for Oregon, and that’s why preservation advocates say they shouldn’t be torn down or moved to make way for UO Housing’s new central kitchen.

“We kind of think of WWII as having happened in Europe,” says George Kramer, who wrote a book about Camp White and WWII. “People don’t understand how much Oregon changed as a result of WWII.”

As the Eugene City Council’s winter break progresses, Whoville campers are focusing on their relationships with businesses around the camp to show that giving homeless people a place to rest can improve things for everyone. Whoville is one of several protest camps seeking a legal place for homeless people to sleep.

Tsunami Books at Willamette and 25th is organizing a fundraising day and event Saturday, Dec. 28, in support of Lane Arts Council and Friends of Civic Stadium. Customers are asked to “refrain from the usual discounts on new books, special orders, etc., on this day only,” says owner Scott Landfield. Instead, 20 percent of sales will be split between the two nonprofits. The day’s events will include free live music from 5 to 8 pm by Nancy Wood, Paul Safar, Sean Brennan and Mike Hatgis. Call 345-8986 or find Tsunami on Facebook.

The megaload of oil extraction equipment heading through Eastern Oregon to the tar sands of Canada hit another snag when climate justice activists blockaded the road in two places east and west of John Day as part of a series of protests against the nearly one-million-pound shipment. Twelve of the 16 people arrested on Dec. 16 were members of Eugene-based Cascadia Forest Defenders.

In a November EW Viewpoint, Congressman Peter DeFazio brought up a talking point he’s mentioned almost every time he discussed his controversial O&C trust plan: cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that he says could affect what happens to the publicly owned O&C forests.

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) sent Springfield-based Mid Valley Metal Recycling a letter on Dec. 9 for failing to submit stormwater monitoring results for 2012-13 for its facility on South A Street in Springfield, which has a DEQ-issued Clean Water Act permit to discharge pollution to the Springfield Millrace. DEQ also sent a letter to David L. Penegor on Dec. 11 for solid waste, waste tire, used oil and spill violations at a site on Brabham Road in Pleasant Hill near Highway 58.

One of Oregon’s two nuclear reactors is a noncommercial one at Oregon State University that is training a new generation of nuclear specialists, some with commercial aspirations (the other is at Reed College). However, local utility EWEB gets power from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which in turns gets electricity from the Columbia Generating Station (CGS) nuclear reactor in Washington on the Hanford site.

Whoville campers are worried that history will repeat itself. Before the Eugene City Council’s winter break in 2011, the council and EPD had no plans to close the Occupy Eugene camp at Washington-Jefferson Park during winter break. By Christmas, it was closed. Now that the council has said the same thing about Whoville, some campers say that some of the same tactics used to justify Occupy’s closure are threatening Whoville.

• No Coal Eugene meets at 5 pm Thursday, Dec. 19, at Growers Market, 454 Willamette St. The group meets most Thursdays. See nocoaleugene.org.

• A benefit for Womenspace in honor of Casey Wright, a recent victim of domestic violence, will be from 6 to 9 pm Thursday, Dec. 19, at Cozmic, 199 W. 8th Ave. Grrrlz Rock is hosting the event with a theme of “Sing Through the Blues.” Suggestion donation $10-$15.

Record-setting low temperatures can lead to record-setting energy bills, but UO students can get help improving their homes’ energy efficiency. Student and Community Outreach for Renter Efficiency ($CORE) sends peer energy educators to assess students’ dwellings for ways to be more green, complete with about $40 in free fixes.

Without much discussion, the Eugene City Council unanimously approved a supplemental budget Dec. 10, including $2,258,355 increased revenue in the General Fund, which is now facing an approximately $3 million budget gap, down from $5.9 million earlier in 2013. A total of $1.5 million was sent to the replacement fund for the rebuilding of City Hall. Supplemental budgets are passed when the city’s income or expenditures are different than predicted in the fiscal year’s original budget.

Months after county administrator Liane Richardson was fired over changes she made to her pay, Lane County citizens still don’t know the whole story about what happened. Various news organizations, including Eugene Weekly, made public records requests for copies of the outside investigation by USO Consulting that examined the circumstances surrounding the compensation changes, but the county hasn’t released it in an unredacted form. The investigation found that Richardson violated county policy, but the county never gave any more details.

The extended freeze is making Eugene area rhododendrons, azaleas and other plants looking sad and shriveled. Will they survive?

“The cold weather causes the water in the leaves to evaporate, and with the ground frozen, no water enters the plant and/or leaves,” says Ross Penhallegon of the OSU Lane County Extension. “The leaves then start to wilt and droop. The longer the cold (below 25 degrees) weather, the more damage or water loss to the leaves.”

Mark Frohnmayer is tired of feeling like he has to vote for the “lesser of two evils” in the Oregon elections process, and he’s out to change our primary process to a more open process called “approval voting.”

The upper level Lane County Public Service Building is going through a $750,000 remodel; this includes the area around where the county commissioners work, though not, according to County Spokesperson Anne Marie Levis, their actual offices. Work began last week and is expected to wrap up on Jan. 25, according to a Sept. 30 email from Capital Projects Manager Brian Craner to Commissioner Pete Sorenson.

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is accepting comments through 5 pm on Monday, Dec. 16, concerning a Clean Water Act discharge permit application for industrial stormwater discharges from Metal Products Company in Springfield. Visit goo.gl/ScwdH to see the company’s stormwater plan, and goo.gl/iMDQb to comment. Metal Products Company’s permit application was prompted by a notice of intent to sue letter sent by Oregon Clean Water Action Project on behalf of Willamette Riverkeeper.

• Eugene’s mayor says Whoville is here to stay through the holidays — or, at least, the city has no plans to disperse the homeless camps before the City Council reconvenes Jan. 13. But the council’s refusal to officially approve four emergency rest stops before its monthlong vacation irked protesters, who say they’ve been harassed by police at the sites and want the council’s protection through the break.

The campaign to raise state and federal minimum wages is going strong, and now Oregon State Treasurer Ted Wheeler is calling for more transparency in corporate executive pay packages. Wheeler is the custodian of state funds and says the gap between the highest and lowest paid employees in a company is an indicator of that company’s long-term profitability. Such information can affect state investments in Oregon stocks, and Wheeler believes the public also has a right to know.

• The Lane County Chapter of the ACLU will present a free program on “Human Rights and Mental Health Care: Managing the Intersection” from 5:30 to 7 pm Thursday, Dec. 12, at the Eugene Public Library. Speakers will include clinical social worker Ron Unger. Contact lanechapter@aclu-or.org for more information.

Sen. Ron Wyden released his long-awaited company bill to Rep. Peter DeFazio’s O&C Trust, Conservation and Jobs Act on Nov. 26, shortly before the Thanksgiving holiday. Environmental organizations such as Oregon Wild and Cascadia Wildlands immediately greeted the bill, which calls for “ecological forestry” on the controversial public lands, with disappointment and criticism.

Duck confit, duck charcuterie, duck-fat ice cream … sometimes you have to break a few duck eggs and eat a few fowl in order to protect ducks and their habitat. On Dec. 11, local restaurant Party Downtown is teaming up with conservation group McKenzie River Trust (MRT) for an evening of duck feasting and river saving, along with celebrity hunter, gardener and cook Hank Shaw. Shaw is on tour promoting his new book, Duck, Duck, Goose: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Waterfowl, Both Farmed and Wild.

“The media creates a lot of body dissatisfaction, specifically in teen girls,” says Elizabeth Daniels, co-author of a new study, which finds that ethnic identification may help Latina adolescents find better satisfaction in their bodies.

Psychologists at Oregon State University-Cascades and Gallaudet University evaluated more than 100 Latinas, ages 13-18, having them react to images found in advertisements, magazines, television shows and movies. The subject matter consisted of unrealistic images of white women in sexualized roles, according to Daniels.